Costa Rica's most popular sport is football (soccer). Not an opinion, a fact. Basically every school includes soccer football on a weekly basis in their P.E. program. Costa Rican "Primera División de Futbol" (Footbal First Division) has a close 3 million followers out of 4.5 million people in the country. Soccer matches are followed by the greatest portion of the country. Compared to most Sports stores in the USA or Canada, Costa Rican stores mostly sell soccer merchandise. Footballers in Costa Rica are recognized and iconic athletes, mostly those playing in European leagues. (e.g. Bryan Ruiz - Fulham FC, Joel Campbell - Arsenal FC, Christian Bolaños, Bryan Oviedo - FC Copenhagen, Kaylor Navas - Levante UD, Esteban Alvarado - AZ Alkmaar... All important public figures as of 2012). Aproximately US$30 million are used by the Estate anually to maintain soccer facilities and stadia in Costa Rica. In basically every Costa Rican citizen, there's a sense of belonging towards Costa Rica's national football team, 4th in Rank for the CONCACAF area according to FIFA's monthly ranking for May 2012. Highest peak ranking as the 17th-22nd best football team in the world between 2001 and 2003.Costa Rica's biggest pride and joy, entertainment and widespread activity is football soccer. Impossible to deny it.Greetings,-a Costa Rican citizen. Daniel González.